Winter Break. January 2022. Day 1. Bienvenidos a Miami.

Here we go again.

Tzvi’s alarm went off at 7:00am, he turned it off, and then at 7:15 when I finally got up, he asked if his alarm went off. He started rushing around, doing the usual pre trip stressful routine. I got up pretty slowly, gathered the final belongings, made the final sandwiches, and was ready to go. We hadn’t prearranged a car because by the time we realized we needed one, the one driver we called was booked. So, we called an Uber. We got an Uber XL Premiere (which usually guarantees a Chevy Suburban or huge SUV) but he couldn’t fit all of our stuff (maybe he actually could have but didn’t try hard enough). We decided Robyn would go in a second Uber. When I placed the order it said 16 minutes and Tzvi had a panic attack. I ended up cancelling that one, ordering a new one, and it was at the house before our original car was even packed up.

We made it to the airport and got on the curbside line. This was Tzvi’s poor decision of the day (according to him). I don’t know why, but the line didn’t move. At least we got to see all the Jews arriving for their various flights out of New York. It’s the Exodus. There were people with taped up Gourmet Glatt boxes, little girls carrying their father’s tfillin and lots of people who couldn’t figure out how to properly stand on a line.

Finally we checked in and got on the precheck line where Tzvi realized he didn’t have his phone. He ran out and found it by curbside check in. That was lucky. Security was smooth and we immediately got on line for bagels and then coffee. Tzvi once again started panicking because he wasn’t going to make it to the gate in time for the start of boarding. He doesn’t even have early boarding (we actually should have Mosaic status, but that’s a story for another time). He ended up leaving me and Madeleine waiting for coffee and he, Robyn, and Hallie went to the gate. [Tzvi: By the time we got there they were boarding all rows. We had completely missed families with small children, although the entire plane was families with small children. I’ve never gotten there that late. I wonder if they just decided the Jews were all going to try to get on no matter which rows were being called, so just said screw it and said anyone could go.] Well, I finally got my coffee and as I was walking to the gate I heard “final boarding call.” Tzvi never actually told me he got on the plane, but as there was no one left, I assumed he did. I think I was the 2nd to last one to get on the plane. Not bad, not bad at all.

We got settled and the plane actually pushed back around 8 minutes early, but then we heard that we had to be de-iced and gelled. So, we sat on the ground for 40 minutes before liftoff. [Tzvi: I’ve never heard anyone call takeoff “liftoff.” Did we fly to Florida on a rocket ship?] Wonderful. All of Madeleine’s good behavior wasted on the ground. I kid, sort off. The flight was fine, tiring. At one point they had to make an announcement “this is the last announcement about masks. If we have to tell any individuals to put on their masks they will receive a write-up and will incur a fine.” What a kiddush Hashem.

We landed, walked a mile to baggage claim, and got an Uber that actually fit us all. This was around 2:30 and Madeleine still hadn’t napped. The ride was about a half hour and at some point Madeleine pinched Hallie and she cried. Then Tzvi tried to explain to Madeleine that she wouldn’t like it if she was pinched, so Madeleine started pinching herself and going “ow, ow.” It was pretty funny. Our driver spoke no English. He told us he was from Cuba and arrived 11 years ago. Glad he’s trying to learn the language?

We arrived, checked in, and went to the room. Our hotel is the Loews Miami Beach hotel in South Beach, but we’ll get into more on that tomorrow. Only one room was ready so we dropped some stuff and walked to Aroma, which is basically right next to the hotel. Came to Miami for an Iced Aroma. We left Robyn and Hallie at Aroma and we walked Madeleine to try to get her to sleep. It worked.

Tonight we had a reservation at Fuego, Miami’s best Kosher restaurant (or so they say). The drive was over an hour, because of traffic. Our driver said it’s never like this. I think it’s because the Jews are in town. The driver told us he lives right next to Fuego and that it’s a very popular restaurant, but this week there have been crazy lines out the door. We told him it’s because the Jewish schools have vacation and then he proceeded to point out Jews as he drove. “Over there, and there’s one, and down there you see some.” Then we passed a shul that was having an outdoor event. “Oh there’s a lot of them over there!” Along the drive our driver also pointed out the site of the Surfside building collapse. It’s just a massive hole in the ground. So crazy.

We made it to Fuego on time and of course, it was packed with Jews. I think I saw at least 4 familiar faces.

Dinner was fantastic. We started by sharing a cocktail which was actually decent. We also shared an order of bourbon BBQ wings and for the girls we ordered chicken nuggets and fries. For our main, Tzvi and I shared the BBQ Chef Platter for 2, though it could’ve easily fed three or maybe even four. The platter had short ribs, grilled steak, pulled briset, burnt ends, sausage, baked beans chili, chips, onions, guac, mashed potatoes and skewers of grilled veggies. It was delicious. A ton of food, but all delicious.

While we sat there we saw a lot of people having birthdays, which apparently are a big deal at Fuego, because every time another birthday got dessert they dimmed the lights in the whole restaurant, blasted a different version of happy birthday or another random song and the waiters sang and danced around the restaurant carrying a dessert with sparklers. Of course Hallie saw this and didn’t want to be left out. Well, her birthday is only a few weeks away (if eight is a few). Oh, they also have random sing-a-longs at Feugo. First there was a sing-a-long of Tov L’hodot, during which the entire restaurant sang along, including the [clearly non-Jewish] waiters. Hallie got pretty into that.

Then they did a sing-a-long of Sweet Caroline, which Hallie also thought was great even though she didn’t know the song. Then, during Sweet Caroline, they dimmed the lights and all of the waiters started marching toward our table with a sparkling dessert. Hallie was so excited that they were singing and dancing for her, until the end, when they all said “happy birthday” and she got really confused and said “it’s not my birthday.”

After dinner I directed us to the Winn Dixie in the same shopping complex so we could buy a couple of six packs of water. The waters in the hotel are 6 dollars, so that’s not happening (until its an emergency). The Uber home was smooth, and less than 40 minutes. We got everyone in bed, but obviously the kids took too long to go to sleep. And here we are. Day 1 in Miami, muy bueno.